Comments by Archer

Page 1 of 1

Posted on April 7 at 10:26 a.m.

I find it very ironic and sad how people on this post can cry and vilify a women's right to choose what to do with their own body...while millions of people have lost/are losing their lives in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and around the world... while 1.5 million children die every year from starvation. So what I observe, is that you care about a life that hasn't been brought into this World yet, but you could care less about the living. There is a reason women make a very painful choice to have an abortion. A decision she will live with for the rest of her life. That is not your choice. Its hers, whether you like it or not. You can decry that God is against abortion and that it is murder. Just like when God told the Israelite's to slaughter all of the people in Jericho (save 1)? Or how about when God wiped out all humanity (save Noah's family) during the flood? So its OK for GOD to snuff out life at anytime, at any moment, but its not OK for woman (who was created in God's image), to decide who and when they bring another life into this world? We, as Christians, should be worried about one thing, our own souls. God is the judge. We are commanded to do one thing more than all others, which is love. Love God. Love thy neighbor. Your judgement is not loving, it separates you from your neighbor and from GOD (which is the definition of sin.)

And JW, God bless you and open your eyes, but Marinol is an aweful drug that isn't half as effective as smoked cannabis. Ask anyone who has used it (myself included).

Marinol is 100% Synthetic THC mixed with sesame seed oil. Marinol is loaded with synthetic THC but contains none of the other 66 active medically useful components of cannabis (Cannabinoids). Not to mention the other naturally occurring terpenoids (oils) and flavonoids (phenols) in cannabis that have also been clinically demonstrated to possess therapeutic utility.

And FYI... Cocaine is not NATURAL! The Coca leaf is. Cocaine is released from Coca leaves through a long process that involves crushing the leaves, soaking them in a solvent (gasoline or kerosene) and then washing it with acid. I am sorry JW but sometimes, I am trying to be respectful, but I just don't know where you come up with this stuff.

JW "As far as your ancient marijuana goes, it was a weed of about .03% THC. All you can get is 100 percent of 3 percent when it is distilled." WRONG on so many levels. Recently scientist discovered a 2700 old Chinese grave site with 789 grams of cannabis, and I quote "The marijuana was found to have a high content of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis, but the sample was too old to determine a precise percentage."

When you say I am "Desperate and grasping at straws" you might want to look in the mirror my friend.

JW, take a look at Marinol, 100% synthetic THC which is legal in the US and is a Schedule 3 drug. That same THC which might be found at 10-20% levels in modern day cannabis is classified as a Schedule 1 drug by the DEA...contrary to the law which says that a natural compound and a synthetic compound must share the same classification.

Why am I against Pharmaceutical doses? Firstly, you said that, I didn't. I am actually for Pharmaceutical doses of natural medicine. If you want to put a bunch of components that were assembled in some factory, which have long list of negative side effects (increased gambling urges, restless leg syndrome, and death) into your body....then by all means please continue to defend the Pharmaceutical Industry. In my opinion it is immoral to reap huge profits at the expense of human suffering. The Pharmaceutical industry has proven its ability to invent new illnesses, flood the television with ads, and reap profits from a mess of white powdery chemicals touted as treatment and cures. Not to mention that if you looked at that list of 1,000+ endocannabinoid patents, then you would know that the majority of them are held by Big Pharma, and you might also know that they are the largest lobbyist organization in the country, and use their money and patents to keep natural medicines off the market.

JW- "No one has ever died from a marijuana overdose is a strong statement." According to the US Government you would have to smoke 1500 lbs of pot at once to get a lethal dose. Since this is physically impossible, it is a fact that no one has ever overdosed on marijuana alone. So your "good science" "secondary causes of death" is complete nonsense. Anything you do can contribute to an accidental death, that doesn't make it the cause.

JW -"Your argument about ancient marijuana use is invalid." Invalid is a strong word and I suggest you might want to rethink that. Medical cannabis has historically been used in many forms including tinctures, hash, edibles, etc. The knowledge of how to reprocess cannabis to adjust the levels of THC and CBD's has been known for centuries. Also, THC breaks down and decomposes over time (law of thermodynamics), so there is no accurate way to determine the actually THC levels in ancient pot. So a few tests on the levels of THC in ancient hash has no real value or relevance.

JW - "The Mexican field workers smoked hemp to get high at the end of the day." Really? Which Anslinger Propaganda pamphlet are you reading? Do you think maybe they smoked it because they were doing hard labor and it helped to alleviate their pain? Or maybe they smoked it because they couldn't afford modern medicine, and marijuana worked better anyways? Interesting that you singled out a single race instead of talking about its use among the general population.

OH and BTW, sorry to burst your bubble, but the paid ad in the Independent had absolutely nothing to do with you.

Or perhaps you can look at history and the fact that cannabis has been used effectively as medicine for over 4000 years and has only not been considered medicine in the United States for about the last 70 years. Or maybe you can look at why it became illegal in the first place (money, job security, and greed). For someone who claims to be coming at this from a scientific perspective, you sure are ignorant in your expressed viewpoint.

Your body contains an endocannabinoid system. All invertebrates have one. With out it you would die. YOU ARE HIGH WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT. Without your endocannabinoid system you would be in constant pain, you wouldn't have a desire to eat, your body wouldn't heal properly, and you would mostly likely starve and die in agony. Cannabis is chemically identical to the endocannabinoids that your body makes internally. By ingesting external sources of cannabinoids, you can help to regulate your body's endocannbinoid system. It's that simple. It doesn't take a PhD or a bunch of federally funded anti-cannabis studies to understand it.

BTW I know Dr. Tashkin personally and I produced the CME course that doctors and nurses in 16 states use to learn about the Endocannabinoid System. What Dr. Tashkin has found is that smoked marijuana, while it does contain carcinogens, also has very powerful and potent anti-oxidants and neuroprotectants that offset the damage done by en-hailing smoked cannabis. His studies found that if you smoke cannabis and tobacco you are less likely to get lung cancer than if you smoke tobacco alone.

I find it very interesting that you are campaigning against cannabis, when there are so many legal drugs that do much worse damage to society as a whole.

Alcohol kills. Tobacco kills. Oxycontin kills. All legal, do you follow? You may have also read the headline recently that prescription drug abuse is now the NO1 cause of accidental death in the US.

Ironically, it is impossible to take a lethal dose of cannabis. Not one death every has occurred from an overdoes of marijuana.

So tell me what is your problem with cannabis? In the words of the late great Bob Marley, "Wake Up and Live Now!"

Did you know the local ordinance drawn up by Whiley and the Santa Barbara City Council is both illegal and immoral? The ordinance requires clubs to give city staff and police access to patients records at any time, clearly a violation a patients right to privacy. They also, like Long Beach, it requires that every batch of cannabis be sent out for testing (ruled illegal in the Long Beach case). What else, oh yes, they require no less than 8 security cameras and a full time security guard, and they limit the hours and days of operation or should I say they dictate when a patient can purchase medicine...oh and BTW, every club who has sued the city has won or the city has settled. I am closely watching the case of the City of Santa Barbara vs. The Compassion Center of Santa Barbara. I have a hunch that this further waste of our tax dollars (thanks again Whiley Cyote) will result in the local ordinance being thrown out altogether. Next time do us a favor, let medical professionals dictate health issues, you are a lawyer and not a qualified physician. BTW no less than 5 well respected local doctors wrote legal statements in support of the Compassion Center and called it a valuable asset to the medical community... but Whiley and the 3 Block Heads (Self, Rowse, & Francisco) didn't even flinch.

Falcone and Murillo definitely have my vote. But I am not so sure about Schwartz. If there is a progressive alternative, then I won't vote for Schwartz. I have been in more than 1 city council meeting where I have observed Schwartz's short-comings. From the botched inspections the city has used to attempt to shut down the Compassion Center of Santa Barbara (the only nurse run facility in the state) to the forced collapse of the West Beach Music Festival which bankrupted Twin Productions and resulted in heavy financial losses to the community. Under her planning commission guidance, the city has racked up a huge amount of unnecessary legal fees and challenges. From what I have observed Schwartz is more concerned with dictating from a position of power than making common sense decisions that benefit our community.